1) Field of the Invention
The field of this invention relates to toys and more particularly to a hand holdable toy to be normally used by a child that dispenses a stream of air bubbles from a liquid such as a soap solution.
2) Description of the Prior Art
Trigger actuated toys, generally in the form of a pistol or rifle, are in exceedingly common usage. Normally such toys are used to propel an object. It is quite common to design this object to be capable of not causing injury. Common forms of non-injury types of objects would be corks, plastic slugs and water. Another form of a non-injury propelable object would be a soap bubble.
Bubble producing toys in the form of a pistol or rifle have been previously known. Reference is to be had to a similar type of toy which was filed by the present inventor in a U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/391,104, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,191, filed Feb. 21, 1995 entitled BUBBLE PRODUCING TOY. Also reference is to be had to prior art similar types of toys in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,393,039; 2,974,438; 2,989,818; 4,423,565 and 5,224,893. Also reference is to be had to a similar type of toy in a Japanese patent 5-285278. All these prior references, excepting application No. U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,191, are directed to bubble producing toys which utilize some form of a member that dips into a bubble solution and when extracted, can be used to produce a bubble. The bubble is normally produced by blowing air at the dip member with the dip member having a hole therein with the soap film being produced across the hole after it is removed from a soapy solution. The structure described within applicant's co-pending patent application is basically similar to the structure of the present invention in that no member is dipped into a bubble solution and extracted therefrom and then subjected to an air stream. A bubble film in the form of a thin membrane is produced across an aperture by means of a wiper bar with this film being reproduced rapidly which thereby produces bubbles rapidly.
The structure of the present invention is different from the prior invention of applicant as defined within U.S. patent application U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,191 in that the structure of the present invention includes a substantially decreased number of parts. The volume of air flow of the bubble producing toy of the present invention can be varied which is not possible within the prior application. A varying air flow is desirable in that generally the greater the air flow, the smaller in size the bubbles that are produced. Decreasing the air flow from a maximum air flow level will normally result in the production of larger sized bubbles. The structure of the present invention includes an improved wiper bar arrangement over that of prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,191. There is also included within the present invention an improved check valve over prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,191 to prevent spilling of the bubble solution upon turning over of the bubble producing toy of the present invention.